Want an easy way to help kids learn the parts of a paragraph? This adorable cookie jar craft will teach kids all about paragraphs in a hands-on way!
This post was sponsored by WriteShop. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you for your convenience.
Last semester, we were thrilled to be able to try out WriteShop Junior Level E in our homeschool. We quickly ran through the lessons, and by January, Monkey was completely finished with the program! This was suprising to me, because before starting WriteShop she had expressed little interest in writing, much less moving on to more advanced lessons.
We ordered the WriteShop I starter pack to start this semester.
Right away, I noticed the biggest difference was in how much writing vs hands-on writing activities there were. Monkey is a bit below the recommended age for this program (which is designed for 6-8th grade), so I decided to add in my own hands-on activity for each lesson. So far, the slightly modified lessons are working great!
In the first lesson, kids learn about the parts of a paragraph. The analogy is given that a paragraph is like a cookie jar. Without the lid, bottom, and jar, your cookie jar won’t work!
We made this fun hands-on paragraph diagram to illustrate this concept.
Parts of a Paragraph Cookie Jar Diagram
We had tons of fun making this parts of a paragraph poster, and we will definitely be adding more hands-on writing activities as we continue our way through the WriteShop I lessons.
What you’ll need for your parts of a paragraph cookie jar:
- Construction paper (4 colors)
- Glue
- Scissors
- Marker
- pom pom
Cut out a jar from paper. Monkey free-handed a circular jar that looked like a traditional cookie jar.
Cut out a lid and a bottom for the jar from a contrasting color.
Cut out cookies (these are your sentences in the paragraph) from brown paper. Draw chocolate chips with a black marker.
Glue all the pieces together. Label each part of the paragraph with a marker. The lid is the topic sentence, the cookies are the content sentences (all related- the same type of cookie!), and the bottom of the jar is the concluding sentence.
When the glue dries, hang your new parts of a paragraph poster where you complete your other writing lessons. This makes a fun and simple visual that really helped Monkey keep on topic for her paragraphs!
After making this poster, she wrote a lovely paragraph describing the color pink.
More Hands-On Writing Ideas
One Simple Tip to Help Reluctant Writers
